Seasons
by snoreasaurus
Summary: It takes a year, but it's worth the wait.


In the spring, Kate wears fun little sundresses and basks in the warm air, raising her hands to praise the end of winter and twirling around so that her skirt lifts and Tommy thinks he's about to get a glimpse of her panties before she spins to a halt and sighs deeply, contentedly.

_Walk with me._ She insists as she links their arms, and Tommy doesn't protest although he hates walking. He doesn't know what he's thinking, hoping that walking through the park, joking and laughing like the good friends they are will somehow remind Kate of what it feels like to kiss him and inspire her to do it again.

It's spring and maybe his hoping that the happiness she feels with the warmth of the sun on her skin will remind her of the happiness he believes she felt when he pulled her close on new year's eve, enveloping her in the warmth of his body as they danced and kissed and laughed together.

Even if she doesn't, he's just glad to be near her. Being a part of the life of someone like Kate Bishop is more than Tommy Shepherd has ever felt he deserves.

In the summer, Kate invited them all for a week-long getaway at her family's beach house in North Carolina. Tommy almost doesn't go, because he still doesn't feel like he belongs, but she looks at him with those eyes and he can't help but agree to attend. It's more fun than he could have anticipated. Together the teams basks in the heat and humidity of the south and Kate introduces him to Charleston, which quickly becomes his favorite city in America. She holds his hand to drag him down the beach to the ocean and he slows down to let her lead him and because he doesn't want the moment to end.

They lay together in a hammock and look at the stars and Kate admits that she likes to pretend sometimes that she doesn't know about other worlds and other beings and that the stars are just stars and that they are beautiful and mysterious. He tells her that she's beautiful and mysterious and she laughs and punches him in shoulder but she's blushing.

They fall asleep in the hammock, pressed together, her head on his shoulder, but Kate never acknowledges that this has happened and so Tommy pretends he doesn't remember it either, although he thinks of it almost every day.

In the autumn Kate begins classes at Columbia and Tommy remembers that she's one of the smartest people he knows (and certainly the smartest non-mutant). She tells the world that her gap year is over and she finally wants to go back to school but she tells him in secret that her dad threatened to cut her off if she didn't start working towards a degree. She doesn't seem to pity herself over it though, and Tommy is glad that she at least seems appreciates the opportunities she has.

He starts to think that maybe he should get his GED, but the thought is frightening and so he resolves to ignore it.

It's fall and the leaves change color and Kate starts wear sweaters and tights and scarves and Tommy is astonished to realize that it's possibly for her to look cuter than she did in her sundresses. She bundles up tight and admonishes the approaching winter—she _hates_ being cold, she tells him with a red and runny nose, sniffling as she does so. Besides, she always gets sick.

Tommy wants to tell her she's beautiful still and he wants to kiss her chapped lips and give her his jacket to wear and hold her hand while they sit in the park and drink coffee in the morning but Tommy Shepherd is a coward most of the time, and just smiles and tells her it'll be spring before she realizes.

In the winter Kate goes on a ski trip with her family for Christmas and Tommy is left feeling restless and abandoned. It's the time of year that everyone spends at home but he doesn't really have a home to go to. He's welcome at the Kaplan's, he knows, but he doesn't feel like he belongs there.

Really, he's just sulking because the year is coming to an end and this one was no different from the last. He'd thought it might be.

Kate throws a new year's party. She comes home early from her family vacation and hosts it in her parents' house. The house is swanky but the party is not. Boxed wine flows and ten dollar champagne abounds. Tommy feels right at home. Kate finds him early in the evening and drags him outside to talk. Tommy isn't sure why, but feels a sense of oncoming dread.

The dread is misplaced because she only says a handful of words that he'll never forget before she throws her arms around his neck and kisses him fully on the mouth. She's never done that before and Tommy can only pray she'll do it again everyday for the rest of his life.

They welcome the new year on her balcony, isolated from their friends and wrapped up in one another. They sleep together in her childhood bed and although Tommy doesn't believe in God he prays that he won't have to wait another whole year before he can kiss Kate Bishop again.

In the spring, Kate pulls her sundresses out of the back of her closet and raises her arms to the sun and twirls and twirls and allows Tommy a glimpse of her panties with a saucy wink as he grins at her and pulls her close and kisses her deeply.

It's spring, and Tommy Shepherd whole-heartedly believes he'd the luckiest guy in the world.

Because Kate Bishop was worth waiting for.


End file.
